Agence France-Presse, 11/22/03: Shanghai residents still hungry for wildlife despite SARS fears: survey

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Agence France-Presse Saturday, 22-Nov-2003 11:20PM

 

Shanghai residents still hungry for wildlife despite SARS fears: survey

 

SHANGHAI, Nov 23 (AFP) - Scoffing at fears of disease or

animal protection laws, most residents in Shanghai have eaten

wildlife such as frogs, tortoises and snakes and a large portion of

these will do so again, a survey said Sunday.

The study carried out in the wake of the Severa Acute

Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak -- suspected to have been

triggered by wild animal consumption -- found that out of 400

Shanghainese, 83 percent admitted to eating wildlife.

And despite warnings against eating exotic creatures, only

57.5 percent of respondents said they would spare wildlife from their

dinner table, the Xinhua news agency said.

Of these, only 1.9 percent said they would hold back because

animals deserve to be protected.

The survey found that despite SARS, 22.5 percent of survey participants

said they would remain avid wildlife eaters.

Most of these people said they were eager to try new tastes,

while others said wild animals were nutritious and delicious. A small

number of people said they just wanted to follow others.

High income-earners tended to eat more wild animals, the survey found.

The survey was carried out by the Public Health Institute of

the Shanghai No. 2 Medical Sciences University.

During the outbreak of SARS, the Chinese government announced a ban on

the hunting and sale of wildlife.

But while urging people to give up eating wild animals, the government

has not outlawed the practice.

News that authorities wanted to introduce rules making wildlife

consumption illegal stirred a heated debate in southern China's

Guangdong province, where the practice is " steeped in

centuries of tradition. "

The Guangdong government embarked on a massive crackdown on

the province's wildlife markets in late May, at the height of the

SARS crisis, and destroyed more than 30,000 animals.

SARS, which originally emerged in Guangdong at the end of

last year, caused 349 deaths from 5,327 infections in China, from

close to 800 deaths and some 8, 400 infections in some 30 countries.

 

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